Diane Vasarkovy: I left state service from Employment Security in 1996 and had my own business, Wolf Consulting, until 2012 when I finally “retired.” Now my life is a spontaneous work of art and I am very happy. Still living rural, south of Millersylvania, with my hubby of 15 years, my two dogs and visits from grandkids and great-grandkids. Best wishes to ES and all its dedicated people.

Dennis Birge: I have been behaving…(sort of). I am doing well actually. Doing cardio rehab 4-5 days a week and playin’ drums on our music team with my church and also prison ministry with my outreach band.

Careerbuilder.com: Among the leading job boards, providing job listings, resume posting, and career advice and resources to job seekers. CareerBuilder has partnered with many newspapers to provide local as well as national job listings.

Dice.com: The leading site for tech job seekers. You can search by company, job title, keyword and location. There’s also career advice and tech news for job seekers.

Glassdoor.com: A career community that helps people find jobs and companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor members can find Inside Connections at a company through their Facebook network, see the latest job listings, as well as get access to proprietary user-generated content including company-specific salary reports, ratings and reviews, CEO approval ratings, interview questions and reviews, office photos, and more. 2013 About.com Job Search Readers’ Choice Award Winner

Indeed.com: A leading job site with millions of job listings from thousands of websites, including company career pages, job boards, newspaper classifieds, associations and other online sources of job posting.

LinkedIn.com: Connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet. You can search jobs, view jobs you might be interested in, and follow companies of interest on LinkedIn.

LinkUp.com: If you want to avoid spam and scams and duplicate job listings, LinkUp is the job site for you. LinkUp monitors thousands of company career sections in order to connect applicants with often unadvertised jobs by listing the jobs on company websites. Because the jobs come direct from company sites you can be sure they are current openings.

Monster.com: One of the original job boards and has expanded to include a variety of other resources and apps for job seekers. Monster users can search for an apply for jobs online, post a resume, review company profiles, and get salary information and career advice. 2013 About.com Job Search Readers’ Choice Award Winner

US.jobs: The National Labor Exchange, derived from a partnership between the Direct Employers Association and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) designed to improve the labor market and directly connect employers and job seekers. Job seekers using US.jobs for their employment search have access to a database of a million+ unduplicated, verified positions from nationwide employers.

SimplyHired.com: Operates one of the world’s largest job search engines, and connects job seekers and employers through its powerful search engine platform and performance-based job advertising solution. The site provides access to millions of job openings across all job categories and industries, reaching job seekers on the web, social networks, mobile devices, email and through its exclusive network of thousands of partner sites.

idealist.org: Idealist is the premier clearinghouse for information on full-time, internship and volunteer positions within the non-profit sector. You can identify target organizations by their mission and specific types of opportunities within various niches. Registered users can search for contacts in fields or organizations of interest and message them for networking purposes.

About.com’s job search site is led by Alison Doyle, the job search expert for About.com since 1998. Alison is a job search and employment expert with many years of experience in human resources, career development, and job searching, with a focus on online job searching, social media, professional networking and employment issues, trends and technologies.

The US Department of Labor’s (USDOL) newsletter — No. 300 — features a new, fresh look. While the design has been simplified and streamlined, their commitment to you remains unchanged.

In the summer of 2009, the USDOL launched a weekly newsletter with five stories and an events calendar. Since that first issue, the newsletter has grown to nearly a half million subscribers.

Just as important, since then they also expanded their online audience through a blog as well as popular digital platforms like Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Instagram and Google+, among others.

In short, they changed with the times and with technology, and now, they’ve changed again. They hope the redesign draws readers closer to their website and the array of original content and useful information that they post on our digital channels almost every day. And it will be easier to read on smartphones and tablets.

That first newsletter announced a grant competition to prepare workers for careers in health care; this newest newsletter announces a grant for research into how better develop and implement paid leave programs for working families.

Each week you’ll find something new, notable — and maybe even fun. USDOL is eager to share information with you on apprenticeship, the right to sound advice when saving for retirement, the facts on increasing the minimum wage, how federally funded programs in your community are ready to help train people with the skills that companies are seeking as they fill jobs, and much more.

They hope you’ll continue to stay up-to-date, tell them what you think, and offer suggestions to improve coverage.

Employment Security employees can show they care through payroll contributions to the Mutual Aid Foundation.

It is designed to assist ESD and Generations Credit Union employees in times when illness or a financial disaster strikes. Mutual Aid works to reduce the effects of these life challenges by offering loans with generous terms and conditions.

“Who knows who may be in desperate need tomorrow, it could be you, it could be me. Problems are not always failures but are certainly a fact of life.”–Leah Vixo

Another fundraiser they had in 1990 was an ES Day at Wild Waves. For $9 each, the ticketholder could spend the entire day at both Wild Waves and Enchanted Village. And all proceeds went to the Mutual Aid Foundation! (Note: Group tickets now cost $22.99, that’s inflation for you!)

Furthering the understanding or practice of workforce development programs or initiatives.

Advancing IAWP objectives in a leadership role on a board, committee, forum, team or special project for the association.

Workforce System Customer Service Awards

For a group or individual who provides exceptional service to workforce system customers. Nominees need not be IAWP members if nominated by a member. One or more of the following achievements should apply:

Serving customers – Demonstrating devotion to serve for the betterment of workforce system customers and make a difference in their lives.

Promoting resources– Encouraging employers or potential client groups to use workforce development services, enhancing the relationship between service providers and the community.

Partnering– Collaborating with an organization or appropriate audience to take action on critical issues concerning workforce development for customers.

Creating innovations – initiating an idea or innovation that creatively solves a problem or challenge or improves service delivery.

Public Policy Awards

Recognizes an individual who has provided outstanding public service in support of workforce development programs and/or personnel. Potential nominees include state or federal elected officials, federal administrators, workforce agency directors, etc. The individual need not be an IAWP member. Award criteria include one or more of the following:

Encouraged IAWP participation from partners in the workforce development system.

Retiree of the Year Award

For a retiree’s continued outstanding commitment to the association’s objectives following retirement. The nominee must be a current IAWP member and have retired from their job. Nominees who have since gone back to work remain eligible. Achievements that apply:

Education – Contributing to IAWP educational opportunities

Membership – Furthering IAWP recruitment or retention goals

Legislative – Performing grassroots activities that support legislative efforts for workforce development programs

Community –Volunteering time and resources that further the retiree’s local community

Advancing IAWP objectives – Serving a leadership role on a board, committee, forum, team, special project or initiative group (inside and outside of IAWP).

Services to Veterans Awards

For an individual or a group who assists veterans and promotes outstanding, innovative programs to support and raise awareness of veterans’ interests and work rights. Nominee for the individual award must be a veteran, but need not be an IAWP member. The following achievements could apply:

Resource promotion – Encouraging employers or potential clients to use workforce development services

Employment opportunity – Improving work opportunities or working conditions for veterans

Customer service and outreach – Demonstrating devotion and outstanding service for the betterment of veterans groups, including homeless and disabled veterans

Partnerships – Collaborating with veterans’ services and other organizations to take action on issues concerning workforce development for veterans

Legislative Awards

For legislative activities and initiatives at the national, state or local level. Activities may include:

Informing legislators or membership on legislative issues

Identifying key contacts in state or federal governments

Responding to requests for legislative action

Conducting legislative seminars at IAWP meetings

Conducting a special, unusual legislative initiative

Outstanding Employee Performance Awards

For outstanding, conscientious service by an Employment Security employee through excellent, diligent, dependable and trustworthy performance of assigned duties. Must be a member of IAWP. Must be able to quantify the person’s performance.

I love statistics that tell a compelling story. The numbers consistently show that Americans of all ages are working together to keep our nation strong.

This isn’t random — we know volunteering is and always will be a core American value. Last year, one in four of us volunteered through an organization, and two in three of us regularly helped our neighbors.

This service has an estimated value of $173 billion (based on the Independent Sector’s estimate of the average value of a volunteer hour)

More than 138 million Americans (or 63 percent) volunteered informally in their communities

This report includes comprehensive data and trends which tell us just how deep the spirit of service runs in this country.

But that’s not the end of it: We need volunteers now more than ever. More than 80 percent of our nation’s nonprofits depend on volunteers to do their important work.

That’s why I’m asking all of you to give some of your time and #GoVolunteer. The holidays are an excellent time to get involved. Go as a family, take your kids, bring a friend. Visit Serve.gov for ideas on how to volunteer.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram for all the latest.

The state of volunteering and civic life in America is strong – and it’s up to you to keep it up.

P.S. A perfect time to volunteer is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Jan. 19, 2015. Visit MLKDay.gov to find a service project near you!

Editor’s note:Overall, in Washington in 2014:

32.9% of residents volunteer, ranking them 11th among the 50 states and Washington, DC.